Rose Tyler

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Doctor Who character

Billie Piper as Rose Tyler
Rose Tyler
Affiliated with Ninth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
Parallel Torchwood
Race Human
Home planet Earth
Home era Early 21st century
First appearance "Rose"
Portrayed by Billie Piper

Rose Tyler is a fictional character played by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A shop assistant from London, she became a companion of the ninth and tenth incarnations of the Doctor.

Contents

[edit] Conception

After the announcement that the show would be returning, the BBC revealed the name of the new companion, Rose Tyler, on March 28, 2004.[1] It was announced at the same time that former pop star Billie Piper was being considered for the role. Writer/producer Russell T. Davies frequently uses the surname "Tyler" in his work. A family named Tyler is featured heavily in his Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who novel Damaged Goods, and Davies has created characters named Tyler in other series he has written, including Ruth Tyler in Revelations (1994), Vince Tyler in Queer as Folk (1999), and Johnny Tyler in The Second Coming (2003).

The casting of Piper as Rose was announced on May 24, 2004,[2] and was welcomed by fans of the show.[3] Actress Georgia Moffett, daughter of Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison and who would later appear as the title role in the series 4 episode "The Doctor's Daughter", also auditioned for the role.

Rose appeared in every episode of the first two series of the revived Doctor Who, starting in 2005 with the episode "Rose" and ending with "Doomsday" in 2006 (though the character made very brief flashback stock footage appearances in the later "The Runaway Bride" and "Utopia").

[edit] Character history

[edit] Televised history

When first seen by the audience, Rose is working as a shop assistant at Henrik's department store (a replica of Harrods) in Regent Street, London. She has a boyfriend named Mickey Smith, and lives in a council flat with her mother Jackie in the fictitious Powell Estate. Rose left school without taking her A-levels but won the bronze medal in an under-sevens gymnastics competition at her junior school.[4] Her father, Pete Tyler died in 1987 in a car accident, the year after Rose was born.[5]

One night, after the shops close, she encounters mannequins coming to life in the basement of Henrik's. The Autons are about to dispose of her when the Ninth Doctor saves her life, although he proceeds to destroy the building, thus costing Rose her job. She aids the Doctor in tracking down the hiding place of the Nestene Consciousness that is animating the Autons and subsequently helps defeat its plans of world conquest. She is initially reluctant to join the Doctor on his travels in the TARDIS, feeling that someone must stay to look after Mickey, but changes her mind when the Doctor returns to tell her they could travel in time.[4]

During her time with the Doctor, Rose sees the end of planet Earth,[6] watches her father (Peter Allen Tyler) die on November 7 1987,[5] encounters the Doctor's oldest enemies[7] and learns about the consequences of tampering with history.[5] It is revealed that Rose herself is the Bad Wolf,[8] the words being a message that she must return to the future to absorb the energies of the time vortex, saving the Doctor and the Earth from the Daleks. By absorbing the power of the TARDIS, she creates a predestination paradox and makes it possible not just to destroy the Daleks but to leave the clues seen throughout the series. The vortex energies also allow Rose to resurrect Jack Harkness, an act which grants him a level of immortality[9], although the Doctor notes in Utopia that Rose had been unaware of this.

Soon the energies she absorbed begin to destroy her body. The Doctor, through a kiss, absorbs the power, sacrificing his ninth incarnation and regenerating before Rose's eyes into the Tenth Doctor.[8]

Rose is initially disconcerted at the Doctor's transformation,[10] and is even more distressed when the Doctor falls into a post-regenerative coma, unable to counter the threat of a Sycorax invasion. However, when the Doctor recovers and defeats the Sycorax, Rose happily accepts his new face and manner.[11]

She was taken to New Earth by the Tenth Doctor, where Cassandra invaded her body. Cassandra, in Rose's body, becomes very flirtatious and even kisses the Tenth Doctor (This is the only time that Rose and the Tenth Doctor kiss, although technically it was Cassandra using Rose's lips). Rose is knighted by Queen Victoria, making her Dame Rose of the Powell Estate, although immediately afterwards the two are banished from the British Empire.[12] When the Doctor, Rose and Mickey accidentally travel to a parallel Earth, Rose meets an alternative version of her father, who has become a success, unlike Rose's actual father, who died in their parallel universe.[13] Mickey elects to stay on the parallel Earth to fight the Cybermen, and Rose is upset that she will never see him again.[14]

Rose and the Doctor return to their own universe, but later find that both the alternate Cybermen and the Daleks are invading their Earth.[15] Although Rose and the Doctor manage to remove both enemies from Earth, Rose is nearly pulled into the "Void" between worlds in the process, and is only saved by being transported to the alternate world on the other side of the breach. There, she finds herself trapped on the parallel Earth albeit reunited with Jackie, Mickey and the alternate Pete Tyler. Later, the Doctor manages to project his image through the last crack between the universes, sharing a tearful farewell with her. He informs Rose that she is presumed dead in the aftermath of the invasion, thus verifying Rose's soliloquy at the start of the episode "This is the story of how I died". Rose in turn mentions working with that parallel Earth's (non secret) version of the Torchwood Institute due to her experience with aliens. Finally, Rose tells him she loves him, even though they denied it many times during the course of their time together. The Doctor begins to reply, getting as far as "If it's my last chance to say it...Rose Tyler--" before the connection fails.

After last seeing Rose, the Doctor would often become depressed at the mere mention of Rose, or whenever he is reminded of her. In "The Runaway Bride", he is reminded of Rose while attending a party, and a very brief clip of Rose from "New Earth" is used to illustrate this. Donna Noble, in "The Runaway Bride", discusses Rose with the Doctor, as does Martha Jones in the 2007 series.

In the series 3 episode, "Utopia", Jack Harkness mentions that while he was waiting for the Doctor to appear during the 20th century, he went to see Rose once or twice while she was growing up. He says that in order to preserve established events, he never spoke to her in that time.

[edit] Return

Rose makes a brief, non-speaking appearance at the end of the 2008 episode "Partners in Crime", the first episode of the fourth series. Donna Noble addresses her as a random stranger with her back to the camera, whose identity is only revealed after Donna departs and Rose turns to the camera. Her expression is melancholic. She then walks away and fades into thin air. In "The Fires of Pompeii", Lucius, a powerful soothsayer, looks down the Doctor's timeline and tells him that "she is returning," presumably referring to Rose's imminent comeback. She was again 'referenced' in "Planet of the Ood", when a short piece from the "Doomsday" theme was played at the end. She also makes another quick appearance in "The Poison Sky" as a muted flicker on the TARDIS screen, shouting 'Doctor'. This brief clip also appears on the webcast 'Captain Jack's Monster Files' for the Hath. She's also mentioned in "Forest of the Dead" when after Professor River Song whispers something to the Doctor, a short piece from 'Rose's Theme' is played.

In the mid-series trailer aired on 24 May 2008, she is seen multiple times: first holding a gun towards the sky saying "Now we're in trouble." and "It's only just beginning"; walking away from an explosion in the street; running towards someone with red hair, presumably Donna; and telling Donna, "It's coming, Donna. Its coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it" and Donna replying "What is?" and Rose finally speaks the words "The Darkness". This phrase has often been repeated in Torchwood, and once in "The Sound Of Drums". Donna also says to the Doctor, "Rose is coming back. Whatever's happening, isn't that good?", to which the Doctor grins broadly, saying "Yeah" The Doctor pulls down a lever in the TARDIS ready to see her again. Rose is due to appear in the last three episodes of Series 4.[16]

[edit] Doctor Who Annual

The Doctor Who Annual 2006, published by Panini Comics in August 2005, gives further biographical information on Rose in an article written by the programme's chief writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies.[17] The piece includes the address of the flat she and Jackie live in (Flat 48, Bucknall House, Powell Estate, SE15 7GO), the fact that Jackie supports them by working from home as a hairdresser. It also mentions that prior to Rose meeting the Doctor, her only travelling experience was a school trip to France and an annual week's holiday to South Wales with her mother.

Rose (whose middle name is given as Marion) began seeing Mickey at the age of 14, and at 15 she was suspended from her school, Jericho Street Comprehensive, for persuading the choir to go on strike. After doing well in her GCSE exams, she left school to live with a 20 year-old musician, Jimmy Stone, but the affair ended in tears and with Rose £800 in debt. She subsequently returned to Jackie and Mickey, and her mother called in a favour from an ex-boyfriend to get her the job at Henrik's Department Store.

[edit] Other appearances

Rose is featured in the first twelve New Series Adventures novels and also appears in the Quick Reads Initiative release, I am a Dalek. The events of the novel The Monsters Inside are referenced in the episode "Boom Town". In the novels, some elements of Rose's backstory are fleshed out. Only Human reveals she was once engaged to be married; this does not appear to be a reference to Mickey, given Rose's unfriendly reference to the former fiancée, but it could be a reference to Jimmy Stone, mentioned in the Annual ; and in the same novel, Rose briefly marries Tillun, a member of a prehistoric tribe of cave men, as part of a ruse to protect his tribe.

Following Rose's departure from Doctor Who, a spin-off production titled Rose Tyler: Earth Defence was commissioned, but ultimately withdrawn by Davies as he regarded it as a "spin-off too far".

[edit] Personality

Rose was the first television companion of the Doctor with a fully fleshed-out personal life and background that the audience actually saw on screen in her debut story, as opposed to something developed over time. For the first time since the first Doctor Who episode, "An Unearthly Child", "Rose" was told largely from the companion's point of view. It was also the first time the television series has examined the consequences of a companion leaving with the Doctor; for the year she was away, she was considered a missing person and Mickey was briefly suspected of her murder.[18]

Rose is unique in that she is the first companion whose immediate family and/or a close friend knew of her travels with the Doctor while they occurred. Mickey was aware of her new occupation and tracked her movements through his website. Jackie found out about the life her daughter was leading[18] and, despite pleading for her to stay, Rose continued to travel with the Doctor.[19] She was able to communicate with her mother via her "Superphone" and Rose would often phone home during her travels and let her mother know her activities.[20]

Rose is an inquisitive and compassionate young woman, who despite the strange events she is thrown into is quick to adapt to them. She falls easily into the role of the Doctor's latest companion and shows both determination and courage while facing various alien threats. She cares deeply about, and loves, the Doctor, although whether or not her feelings are purely platonic or have at least some sexual component to them is left open to viewers' interpretation. She states on several occasions her desire to stay with the Doctor for the rest of her life,[21][15] and chooses to stay with the Doctor, even though it means forever leaving her mother and Mickey on the parallel earth.[22] In their final moments together, Rose tells the Doctor that she loves him; he begins to reply but only manages to say her name before his transmission is cut off and the two are parted indefinitely.[22] Julie Gardner said on the commentary for the episode that she will "confirm to the world" that he was going to "say it back."

Rose is not the first companion whose deep platonic love for the Doctor at least suggests romantic interest as well. Sarah Jane Smith hints at possible feelings for the Doctor in "School Reunion" when he asks her if she had ever married and she tells him she hasn't ("I travelled with this man...he was a tough act to follow.") Grace Holloway makes a joking reference to having fallen for the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 TV movie. In "Army of Ghosts", Rose also indicates her intention to stay with the Doctor "forever", a sentiment never before expressed by previous companions, many of whom were reluctant travellers, though echoed by companion Donna Noble in "The Doctor's Daughter".

[edit] List of appearances

[edit] Television

Rose Tyler appeared in all episodes of the 2005 series, the 2005 Children in Need special, the 2005 Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion", and all episodes of the 2006 series up to and including "Doomsday". Archive footage of the character was used in brief flashbacks in "The Runaway Bride" and "Utopia". Rose is mentioned in "The Runaway Bride", "Smith and Jones", "The Shakespeare Code", "Gridlock", "Evolution of the Daleks", "Utopia", "Last of the Time Lords" and "Partners in Crime". She has also been hinted at in Daleks in Manhattan, part of the loss the Doctor feels in the Lazarus Experiment, The Fires of Pompeii and Planet of the Ood. In "Human Nature", John Smith's A Journal of Impossible Things features an illustration of her. There are also several less obvious mentions of her throughout the series.

In November 2007 it was announced that Billie Piper would reprise her role as Rose Tyler for the last three episodes of the fourth series. She appeared as a brief cameo in "Partners in Crime", and briefly on the TARDIS communication screen in "The Poison Sky". She will become a main character again later on in "Turn Left", alongside Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and ending with "Journey's End".[23] Later, it was confirmed by Russell T Davies in Doctor Who Magazine that this return had been planned since she left.

[edit] Novels

[edit] Short stories

Doctor Who Annual 2006
Doctor Who Storybook 2007
  • "Cuckoo-Spit" by Mark Gatiss
  • "The Cat Came Back" by Gareth Roberts
  • "Gravestone House" by Justin Richards
  • "Untitled" by Robert Shearman
  • "No One Died" by Nicholas Briggs
Doctor Who Magazine
  • "Voice From the Vortex" (DWM #364)

[edit] Comics

Doctor Who Magazine
  • "The Love Invasion" by Gareth Roberts & Clayton Hickman, Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issues 355–357)
  • "Art Attack!" by Mike Collins and Kris Justice (issue 358)
  • "The Cruel Sea" by Robert Shearman, Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issues 359–362)
  • "A Groatsworth of Wit" by Gareth Roberts, Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issues 363–364)
  • "The Betrothal of Sontar" by John Tomlinson & Nick Abadzis, Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issues 365–367)
  • "The Lodger" by Gareth Roberts, Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issue 368)
  • "F. A. Q." by Tony Lee, Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issues 369–371)
  • "The Futurists" by Mike Collins and David A. Roach (issues 372–374)
  • " Interstellar Overdrive" by Mike Collins and Jonathon Morris (issues 375-376)
Doctor Who Adventures
  • "Which Switch" by Michael Stevens and John Ross (issue 1)
  • "Mirror Image" by Jacqueline Rayner and John Ross (issue 2)
  • "Under the Volcano" by Si Spencer and John Ross (issue 3)
  • "The Germ War" by Alan Barnes and John Ross (issue 4)
  • "WarFreekz!" by Alan Barnes and John Ross (issue 5)
  • "A Delicate Operation" by Si Spencer and John Ross (issue 6)
  • "Blood and Tears" by Si Spencer and John Ross (issue 7)
  • "Fried Death" by Alan Barnes and John Ross (issue 8)
  • "Bizarre Zero" (issue 9)
  • "Save the Humans" (issue 10)
  • "Bat Attack" / "The Battle of Reading Gaol" (issues 11–12)
  • "Triskaidekaphobia" (issue 13)
Battles in Time
  • "Growing Terror", "Hyperstar Rising", "Death Race Five Billion", "The Macrobe Menace", "The Hunt of Doom", "Reunion of Fear" (1 Story, issues 1-6)
  • "The Gluttonoid Menace" (issue 7)
Doctor Who Annuals
  • "Mr Nobody" by Scott Gray and John Ross (Doctor Who Annual 2006)
  • "Down the Rabbit Hole" by Davey Moore and John Ross (Doctor Who Annual 2007)
  • "Opera of Doom!" by Jonathan Morris, Martin Geraghty and Fareed Choudhury (Doctor Who Storybook 2007)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight

[edit] References

  1. ^ Piper in line for Doctor Who role (2004-05-24). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  2. ^ Billie Piper is Doctor Who helper (2004-05-24). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  3. ^ Doctor Who fans back Billie Piper (2004-05-28). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  4. ^ a b "Rose". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Keith Boak, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-03-26.
  5. ^ a b c "Father's Day". Writer Paul Cornell, Director Joe Ahearne, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-05-14.
  6. ^ "The End of the World". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Euros Lyn, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-04-02.
  7. ^ "Dalek". Writer Rob Shearman, Director Joe Ahearne, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-04-30.
  8. ^ a b "The Parting of the Ways". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Joe Ahearne, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-06-18.
  9. ^ "Everything Changes". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Brian Kelly, Producer Richard Stokes (producer). Torchwood. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-10-22.
  10. ^ "Doctor Who: Children in Need". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Euros Lyn, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-11-18.
  11. ^ "The Christmas Invasion". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director James Hawes, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-12-25.
  12. ^ "Tooth and Claw". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Euros Lyn, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-04-22.
  13. ^ "Rise of the Cybermen". Writer Tom MacRae, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-05-13.
  14. ^ "The Age of Steel". Writer Tom MacRae, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-05-20.
  15. ^ a b "Army of Ghosts". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-07-01.
  16. ^ Official Site
  17. ^ Davies, Russell T: Doctor Who Annual 2006, page 38, "Meet Rose". Panini Books, 2005; ISBN 1-904419-73-9
  18. ^ a b "Aliens of London". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Keith Boak, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-04-16.
  19. ^ "World War Three". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Keith Boak, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2005-04-23.
  20. ^ "Love & Monsters". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Dan Zeff, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-06-17.
  21. ^ "The Impossible Planet". Writer Matt Jones, Director James Strong, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-06-03.
  22. ^ a b "Doomsday". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC, Cardiff. 2006-07-08.
  23. ^ Billie Piper to return to Dr Who (2007-11-27). Retrieved on 2007-11-27.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Companions of the Ninth Doctor
Series Series 1
Serials 161 162 163 164A / B 165 166 167 168A / B 169 170A / B
Companions Rose →
Adam Jack (→)
v • d • e
Companions of the Tenth Doctor
Series Specials Series 2 Specials Series 3 Specials Series 4
Serials CIN 171 172 - 173 174 - 176B 177 - 181B 182 183 - 190 191A - 191C 192 193 - 195 196A - 197 198 - 200 201 202A / B
Companions ← Rose Donna Martha Astrid Donna
Mickey (←) Jack Martha Rose Martha
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